metaphysics
Metaphysics means the science of first principles of reality: what exists beyond one sensory appearance, and how real being differs from mere phenomena.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Definitions
- philos. A branch of philosophy devoted to the broadest conditions of existence: essence, causes and laws of reality, plus questions that step past a lone sense-report of one event.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - philos. / hist. lex. In a wider historical-lexical register: a name for writings and study placed "after physics" in the Aristotelian corpus; later a label for real being versus phenomenal being, sometimes equated with ontology or with metaphysics proper.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - philos. In a typology of schools: a frame wider than ontology alone, covering first principles, universal conditions of existence, and the split into general and special metaphysics; a didactic contrast with bare description of appearances and with empiricism that never states theses about what lies past sensory data.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - colloq. In everyday and journalistic talk: a shorthand for something hard, detached or intricate, or for supersensory speculation; sometimes a pejorative tag for abstraction without a foothold in experience. Loose scope, to confirm at review.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Examples
- The lecture kept the lemma as study of first principles of reality apart from physics as a description of natural phenomena: the first steps beyond the sensory register, the second orders it.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - Her handbook called ontology a part of the wider frame and set metaphysics proper beside the science of real being, not beside the course of a single experience.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In the seminar they recalled that the name arose among editors of Aristotle as a label for writings placed after the physics.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - The commentator warned that a casual "that is pure metaphysics" often serves only as a charge of obscurity, with no philosophical method attached.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - She weighed a metaphysical claim about first principles against a phenomenological register of appearances, asking where observation ends and a thesis about being begins.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Usage
Everyday English often treats the lemma as a tag for a general theory of reality, for speculation detached from experience, or for something hard to grasp, without always separating philosophical, historical-lexical and colloquial registers. Precise prose marks layers: real against phenomenal being and first principles (Webster); Arct on essence, cause and laws plus the colloquial gloss of intricacy; and the after-physics etymology (Skeat, Webster). Name the layer you intend. Otherwise the name melts into ontology alone, into physics as nature-report, and into jargon where metaphysical means obscure.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Webster 1913 under Metaphysics records a Greek base, points to Physics, and notes first use by followers of Aristotle for writings placed after the physics. Sense 1: science of real as distinguished from phenomenal being (ontology); also being in abstract or universal conditions and first principles; general versus special metaphysics; Hamilton (ontology, or metaphysics proper). Sense 2: mental phenomena / psychology. Nearby: Metaphysic, Metaphysical, Metaphysically, Metaphysician. Skeat 1910 glosses METAPHYSICS as the science of mind, cites ME methaphesik, and derives metaphysical (Levins), -ally, -ian. Wording here is separate.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913; W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910, open sourceArct (9th ed., 1921) records Metafizyka as philosophy that investigates the essence, cause and laws of all things and the most general principles of being, plus inquiry into what lies beyond sensory reality; colloquially: something hard to grasp, detached, intricate. Under Metafizyczny it notes an abstract, supersensory sense and also intricate, dark, hard to understand. Under Ontologja Arct notes the science of being as a part of metaphysics. Treat those lines as 1920s lexical evidence, not as this site's definition. Only the lexical fact is borrowed from Arct.
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Editorial team; facts: M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open sourceCommon collocations include of being, classical, question, first principles, and proper (metaphysics proper). Metaphysician names an adherent; metaphysical and metaphysically are related forms. Careful writers keep the lemma clear of ontology as a narrower department (or as metaphysics proper), of epistemology as the theory of knowledge against the science of being, of phenomenology as a register of appearances, and of physics as the corpus after which the Aristotelian writings were placed. Authors still draw the borders differently.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Word forms
Regular English noun, usually uncountable and treated as singular (metaphysics is...); the plural metaphysics is rare outside talk of rival systems or historical versions of the inquiry.
word forms
| przypadek | forma |
|---|---|
| singular (usual) | metaphysics |
| plural (rare / systems) | metaphysics |
Word forms: Editorial team
Collocations
- metaphysics of being
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - classical metaphysics
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - metaphysical question
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - first principles
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - metaphysics proper
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (Hamilton: ontology, or metaphysics proper), open source
Synonyms · Antonyms
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (Metaphysics: ontology; Hamilton: ontology, or metaphysics proper), open sourcesource
Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (after physics); W. W. Skeat 1910 (after physics), open sourceEtymology
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourcealso
W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open sourcealso
M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open sourceRelated words
- metaphysician , noun: person versed in metaphysics / adherent (Webster 1913 Metaphysician)
- metaphysical , adjective: pertaining to metaphysics; also, in older use, preternatural (Webster 1913 Metaphysical; Skeat 1910 metaphysical, Levins; Arct Metafizyczny)
- ontology , lexical neighbour (part / metaphysics proper): science of being inside or identified with metaphysics (Webster 1913 Ontology; Hamilton: ontology, or metaphysics proper; Arct Ontologja)
- phenomenology , contrastive neighbour (philos.): description of appearances against speculation about being beyond the phenomenon (Webster 1913 real vs. phenomenal being; Arct Fenomenologia)
- epistemology , contrastive neighbour (philos.): theory of knowledge against the science of being (Webster 1913 Epistemology vs. Metaphysics / Ontology; Arct Epistemologia)
- metafizyka , etymologically related Polish noun
Related entries
Questions and answers
What does metaphysics mean in philosophy, and what in everyday talk?
In philosophy the name covers study of the broadest grounds of existence: essence, causes, and what steps past a lone sense-report. In everyday talk the word often labels something hard, detached or intricate. Those are two registers: classical philosophical and colloquial. Scope follows context.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Where does the word metaphysics come from?
The base is Greek: μετὰ τὰ φυσικά, that is "after the books on nature". Editors of the Aristotelian corpus placed those treatises right after the Physics. Skeat 1910 records METAPHYSICS and ME methaphesik. Webster 1913 has Metaphysics (cf. F. métaphysique). Arct 1921 notes Metafizyka and Metafizyczny. The English lemma follows that path.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913; W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910; M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 1921, open sourceHow does metaphysics differ from ontology, epistemology and phenomenology?
In Webster the lemma is often the wider frame; Ontology is the department of being, sometimes called metaphysics proper. Epistemology treats grounds of knowledge. Phenomenology describes phenomena. In Arct Ontologja is part of the frame, Epistemologia is theory of cognition, Fenomenologia the phenomenal side. Casual talk confuses all four with general philosophy of reality.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913 (Metaphysics, Ontology, Phenomenology, Epistemology); M. Arct 1921 (Metafizyka, Ontologja, Fenomenologia, Epistemologia), open sourceWhat are the word forms of metaphysics?
The noun is regular and usually uncountable, treated as singular: metaphysics is... A plural metaphysics is rare outside talk of rival systems or historical versions. Related forms include metaphysician (adherent), metaphysical and metaphysically; older singular metaphysic also appears in Webster and Skeat.